Customer&#39;s turn indicator for barber shops and the like



Get? 1924.

F. GURLEY CUSTOMERS TURN INDICATOR FOR BARBER SHOPS AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 21. 1920 wvewiioz Patented Oct. 7, 1924.

UNITED FRANK GUBLEY, 0F HIGH POINT, NORTH CAROLINA.

Application filed October 21, 1920. Serial-No. 418,496.-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK GURLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at High Point, in the county of Guilford and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Customers Turn Indicators for Barber Shops and the like; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates generally to indicators and particularly towhat may be termed customers turn indicators for barber shops and the like.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a device which may be used to ad vantage in barber shops or other places where customers are served and who generally have to wait their turn to be served, the device containing means whereby the customers may accurately determine when their turn to be served comes.

Another object of the invention is to provide, a device of this class which will be of comparatively simple, strong, durable and inexpensive construction, and one which will be well adapted for the purpose for which it is designed.

VVit-h the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of the combination and arrangement of parts, and the novel details of construction as are hereinafter fully described and claimed.

The descriptive matter of thev'spec ification is supplemented by the accompanying drawings, in which similar reference characters are used to indicate like parts throughout the several view, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the holding rack. I

Figure 2 is a similar view of the receiving rack. i

Figure 3 is a central vertical sectional view through the receiving rack.

Figure 4 is a perspective view illustrating the manner in which one of the cards is hung upon the coat button of one 'ofthe customers.

In the drawings above briefly described, the numeral 1 designates, as a whole, a rack which may well be termed a holding rack. This rack consists of a substantially rectangular base plate 2, which may be constructed of wood or any other suitable material; The upper and lower edges of the base 2 are provided with brackets 3, the purpose of which is to provide a means by which the base plate 2 may be secured to a suitable support. Extending forwardly from the base plate at a point adjacent the upper edge thereof and midway of the two side edges thereof, is a pine, and extending forwardly of the base plate adjacent the lower edge thereof and adjacent the side edges thereof are pins 5, the free ends of T NT or FicE.

rack 2, is of substantiallyrectangular shape.

Extending forwardly from the base plate 9 and disposed adjacent the upper edge thereof and midway the sides thereof, is a pin 11, whichis similar to th'e pin 4 01 the holding rack l. Extending forwardly from the base plate 9 and disposed adjacentthe' lower edge thereof and adjacent the side edges thereof are pins 12, similarlto the pins" 5 of the holdingrack 1. The pins12 have their free ends flared or" bent outwardly, and they thus serve in the form of guides, as hereinafter pointed out.

Secured to the back of the base plate 9 or to any other suitable points thereof, and extending laterally from the sidesof the base plate 9, are, arms 13. In the drawings, four of these arms are shown, two being disposed on each side. The free ends of these arms are provided with forwardly e tending pins 14, the purpose of which is hereinafter described; L Y

The jreceivingrack proper,'is by preferdesignates a tube which 'ence, disposed'at the upper end of the up- I end of-this tube 16 is providedwith a fiange. 3

One or more sets of cards 1 17 are"used 1n connection with the hold ng and receiving racks. These cards 17 are, by preference, substantially rectangular in shape and are provided, adjacent their upper edges and midway of their side edges, with apertures 18. Disposed immediately beneath the apertures 18 are substantially semi-circular slits 19, the upper portions of which merge into the bottom edges of the apertures 18 and form tabs 20, which under ordinary circumstances lie flat with the remaining portions of'the cards 17, but which may be bent or pressed angularly outwardly.

The cards 17 of each setare numbered in succession from one to, for instance,

fifty. The numbers on the cards are designated by the numerals 21, and are printed in bold large type so as to be easily readable from a distance. The numbers are placed on both sides of these cards. If desired, the cards 17 have printed thereon beneath the numbers 21, a set of directions 22 by which the customers may be advised as to the purpose of the cards and the manner in which they are to be used. The remaining space upon the cards may be utilized for advertising purposes.

In using the invention in connection with a barber shop, the holding rack 1 is scured by means of the brackets 3 to a suitable support disposed adjacent the entrance door of the shop and at the beginning of a day, a set of the cards 17 are placed upon the rack, the pin 4 being extended through the apertures 18 and the pins 5 retain the cards therebetween to prevent them from being accidentally blown away or dislodged from the pins 4. It is to be understood that the set of cards 17 placed upon the holding rack 1 are numbered in succession with the smallest number appearing at the front of the set.

Thev receiving rack 6 is placed in the shop at a point within convenient reach of the various barbers and in such a place that it may be readily seen by the customers who are, waitin their turn to be served by the barbers. 1 ecessaril the receiving rack must be placed so that the supporting base 9 of the rack proper Will face the customers who are awaiting their turn to be served.

The invention is used as follows: As customers enter the barber shop, they are di rected to take one of the cards 17 ofi of the holding rack 1. The customers are to v retain their cards until their turn to be served comes. The cards may be hung upon one of the buttons of the customers coat as indicated in one of the figures of the drawings, the semi-circular slit 19 in the card being for the purpose of allowing the button to be inserted, therethrough, the tab 20, when this is done,-being pressed into angular relation .with respect to the card. As the customers are received to be served by the barbers, the cards 17 are removed from the customers coats by the barbers and placed upon the receiving rack 6. It is to be understood that the tube 16 is disposed upon the pin 11 of the receiving rack proper with the flange of the tube in contact with the front of the base plate 9 of the receiving rack proper. The cards 17 are hung upon the tube 16, being retained in proper position by means of the pins 12 which serve as guides. In placing the cards 17 upon the receiving rack 6, they are placed in succession with the lowermost numbers first. By this means, the customers who are waiting to be served may determine how many are ahead of them and exactly when their turn comes. If a customer desires to wait for a particular barber to serve him, the customer holding the next number will be served, and his card will, instead of being placed upon the tube 16, be placed upon the pin ltcarried by one of the arms 13. If, still another customer is received by a barber, before the customers turn who is waiting, his card will be placed upon the pin 14 carried by another one of the arms 13.

If, for any reason, one of the customers who is waiting to be served, cannot wait for his turn, but has to leave the shop, one of the barbers takes his card from him as he leaves the shop, and retains it until that number comes within four numbers of the card on tube 16, after which it is hung on pin 14 in sight of the customers and at the proper time it is placed upon the tube 16 in its regular order.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing, the card numbered 20 is the outermost, which indicates that nineteen customers have entered the shop. In Fig. 2 of the drawing, the outermost card suspended upon the tube 16 bears number 15, which indicates that the first fifteen customers have been served. In this view, cards bearing the numbers 17 and 18 are shown. supported upon the pins 11 carried by a pair of the arms 13. This indicates that the customer having card bearing the number 16 desires to wait for particular barber who has not finished with his customer, and that the customers having cards 17 and 18 have been or are being served by other barbers. The cards bearing the numbers 17 and 18 are to be kept in the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing until the customer having card bearing the number 16 is served, and when this is done, this card bearing the number 16 is placed upon the tube 16, and the cards bearing the numbers 17 and 18 are removed from the pins 14 carried by the arms 13 andplaced in succession upon the tube 16.

At the end of a day, the number appearing on the outermost card suspended by the tube 16 of the receiving rack will indicate the number of customers served that day by the various barbers, provided that no customer left the shop without being served. However, it frequently happens that customers enter a barber shop and leave without being served, and in this case, provision is made for indicating the. number of such customers by means of comparatively small cards 23, which may be hung upon one of the pins 15 projected from the upright standard 8. When the customer leaves the shop without being served, his card is placed in its regular order upon the receiving rack, and at the same time, one of the cards 23 is also placed upon the rack adjacent the card of the customer who left the shop without being served. The number of the small cards suspended upon the pin 15 will indi cate the number of customers who left the shop during the day without being served, and this number may be deducted from the number appearing upon the outermost card suspended upon the receiving rack in order to determine the exact number of customers that have been served during the day.

At the end of a business day, or atthe beginning of a new day, the cards carried by the receiving rack are to be transferred to the holding rack. This may be done by removing the tube 16 from the pin 11 of the receiving rack. In removing the tube 16 from the pin 11 of the receiving rack, the tube carries with it the cards, the purpose of the flange at the end of the tube 16 being that it prevents the cards from sliding off of the tube while it is being removed from the pin 11. The end of the tube 16 is then placed over the extreme end portion of the pin 4 of the holding rack, and the. cards are then slid onto the pin a of the holding rack so that the outermost card will be the card bearing the lowest number.

In case the barber shop in which the invention is used has seats for the customers which are waiting to be served arranged so that all of the seated customers cannot well see the receiving rack, the number of receiving racks may be increased so that the customers may be able to see one or more 1. In a device of the character described,

a card receiving rack comprising a standard, a backboard carried by said standard, cardholding means carried by said board, an arm extending fro-m the sides of said board and means carried by said side arm for temporarily holding cards until a missing card has been placed upon the card holding means of the board, cards upon the holder of the arm being transferred to the holder of the board when the missing card is put in place.

2. In a device of the character described, a base, an upright standard fixed to said base, a back board carried by said standard, main card holding means arranged on said back board, card ho-lding means on said standard, upper and lower pairs of side arms projecting laterally from said back board and auxiliary card-supporting means carried by said side arms.

3. In a device of the character described, a card-receiving rack comprising a back board, means for supporting the same in operative position, main card-holding means arranged on said backboard, a side arm proj eoting from said back board, and auxiliary card-supporting means carried by said side arm.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. Y

FRANK GURLEY. 

